


When is She?

by Zombie_ReiKitti



Series: Strange Friends [4]
Category: Criminal Minds (US TV), Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Genre: Alternate Universe - Criminal Minds Setting, BAU is tracking down the Listener, Gen, Or trying to, murder investigation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-26
Updated: 2019-06-26
Packaged: 2020-05-20 00:04:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,739
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19366324
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zombie_ReiKitti/pseuds/Zombie_ReiKitti
Summary: The team gets a call from a few towns over that has found a crime scene similar to their current ones; murder in a crappy hotel with little to no leads to go on.





	When is She?

 

 

            The next few days were hell; just trying to find clues was murder. There really wasn't much to go on. The surveillance led nowhere, no one saw or heard anything (not that anyone was willing to admit to, anyway), and the notes, while found at each crime scene, only led to more questions than answers. The case was looking more and more like it would turn cold. It frustrated the team. Soon it'd be like before when Jack Hotchner was kidnapped and then found- no clues and no leads.

            Then Aaron got a call. It was from a few towns over. The local police had found a body in an abandoned hotel with a stab wound to the chest. They had been paying attention to the news and had heard of the BAU's current case and figured the team might want to check this case out since it sounded so similar.

            The BAU team drove the forty miles to the town and checked in with the police department.

            "What makes you think this case is connected to ours?" Rossi asked the sheriff, looking over the case file.

            "A dead body found in a hotel. Not many hotels 'round here but the ones we do got are terrified a murderer's gonna stop by," the sheriff replied. "Plus we found this." He showed them a small white note.

            "Does that say anything on it?" Reid piped up, already reaching for the bag holding the note.

            The sheriff handed it over to Reid. "Not that I noticed."

            Reid inspected the note. It was true. There was nothing written on it. It only had a small inked-in black hand on it. Reid flipped it over, but it was just white on the other side. "Was this found on the body or near the body?"

            "Near the guy's foot. Does that mean something?" The sheriff inquired.

            "Maybe... I need to check the case files," Reid said while shuffling through his messenger bag for the necessary files. He flipped through the files and hmmed.

            "Reid? What'd you find?" Aaron asked, hoping this would be a break in the case.

            "All of the notes found in our case were found on the body. But this one here was found near the body. I think..." Reid paused. "I think this may just be our UNSUB's signature. But I don't know if the difference in where the card is placed means something. The press released that notes were found at each of the crime scenes, but they didn't mention anything about the messages written on the notes. In our case, each victim had a message written on the note, but this one doesn't. It's possible we're dealing with a copycat." Reid looked up at Aaron and handed him the note.

            Aaron took it and examined it. Reid was right, of course. The press had released news of a note being found, but didn't give out any details. But the small inked-in black hand...

            "What about the hand? How could a copycat know to put that there?" Aaron asked.

            Reid sucked in his bottom lip and chewed on it.

            "That's easy," the sheriff butted in. "I guess ya'll don't know, but a reporter caught a glimpse of one of those notes. Here, lemme bring it up," he said. He brought out his phone and brought up a news article. He scrolled down about halfway through the article. "Here." He showed his phone to the team. It showed a blurry photo of a note being handed off to the crime scene investigators. It was hard to see, but zoomed in, it was clear enough to see what appeared to look like a hand on the note.

            "Dammit!" Rossi swore. "I thought we got a hold on all the press releases!"

            "This one is a junior news reporter so they probably sneaked it in and figured it'd be a big hit," Morgan chimed in. "But now we have a copycat to catch."

            "That should make it easier. This one doesn't know all of the tricks to hide their tracks," Aaron said. "Let's get to work."

 

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            "How in all the hells is this so hard to find the copycat?! I thought copycats were _easier_ to find?!" Rossi groused.

            "Maybe it's not a copycat afterall." Reid tentatively said.

            "What do you mean, kid?" Morgan asked, glancing over at Reid. He was chewing on his bottom lip again.

            "I mean... what if the original UNSUB has a partner instead?" Reid asked quietly.

            The team all stopped and looked at Reid.

            "I mean, if the original UNSUB has a partner, it'd make sense that the younger partner would be more inexperienced and make more mistakes like the ones in our original case, while the older partner went to another city and could escape detection." Reid defended himself against their stares.

            "That's a good idea, Reid, but hitmen rarely have partners. They're more lone wolves than not," Rossi gently reminded Reid.

            "So we're back to the copycat idea," Morgan groaned. "The infernally harder to find copycat."

 

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            "There's not even a fingerprint to trace! How can anyone be this good at avoiding detection?!" Morgan groused, throwing his hands up in the air.

            "Are we sure it's not an older partner?" Reid tried again.

            "No, we're not sure," Rossi said, "but it's the next best thing."

            Reid gently smiled and went back to watching all of the town's video surveillance. (The town wasn't _that_ big.)

            "Guys, I think I found something!" Reid piped up. The team all crowded around his chair. Reid rewound the video before playing it again. They all watched the parking lot of the abandoned hotel pass by with no one stopping by. "There! Did you see it?" Reid asked.

            "It's just a parking lot, kid," Morgan told Reid. Reid sighed and rewound the video again.

            "Keep an eye in the upper left side, okay?"

            They did as asked.

            "Whoa! Was that a tire?!" Morgan jerked up. "Go back further. Maybe we can see the make and model."

            Reid rewound the video again and they all watched as a dark vehicle drove by the upper left side of the video before the back tire stopped moving. Reid counted the minutes while waiting for the tire to move off-screen again. Eleven minutes later and the tire moved off-screen. It was too far away and at a bad angle to get a license plate number off the vehicle. But it was something they didn't have before.

            "Now we know this UNSUB drives a dark, probably black, vehicle. That's something to go on!" Rossi cheered.

            "I'll call BabyGirl and have her run a check on all dark colored vehicles in the area!" Morgan happily told the team while pulling out his phone.

 

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            "Garcia says there's only two dark colored vehicles in this county. One is a dark blue truck and the other is a black Prius. The truck belongs to an elderly couple. And the Prius belongs to a soccer mom. They don't seem likely candidates for being our UNSUB." Morgan relayed.

            The team sighed.

            "Morgan and Dave, go check with the elderly couple. Reid and I will check with the mother," Aaron ordered. He watched solemnly as Morgan and Rossi stood and stretched before standing and leaving the precinct to head to the Prius's owner's home.

 

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            "Did anyone get anything useful out of that?" Rossi asked, walking back into the precinct.

            "Depends, what did you guys get?" Reid asked.

            "The elderly couple has been gone for two weeks now. Snowbirds. They left two weeks ago to go visit their winter home. They took their truck and camper with them." Rossi filled in the rest of the team.

            "The Prius's owner, Mrs. Shawford, got into a car accident three days ago and totaled her car. We went and inspected the car. There's no driving that car anymore," Aaron sighed.

            "So the black vehicle seen at the abandoned hotel doesn't belong to anyone in town or in this county?" Morgan inferred.

            "Pretty much," Rossi said, slumping down into a chair.

 

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            "Our only lead was the black vehicle and that has lead us nowhere. There have been no more murders and we're the only outsiders left in this town. It's safe to assume the UNSUB has left and won't be back. I'm sorry, but we're being sent back to Quantico. We don't have the resources to stay out here if the case isn't moving anymore," Aaron apologized to the sheriff.

            The sheriff sighed. "I understand. If anything happens here again, we'll be sure to let you know."

 

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            It was going to be a cold night, I felt it in my bones. I squirmed my way into my backseat and snuggled further into my multitude of clothes and blankets.

            I was parked on the side of the road. There was a bridge nearby where the other homeless people camped out beneath. I didn't want to intrude on their turf so I stayed in my car about half a mile away. They didn't bother me, and I didn't bother them. It kept everyone happy.

            I glared out of my window at the passing car. It had its brights on and didn't bother to turn them off as they passed. Correction; two SUVs passed with their brights on. Assholes didn't even turn off their brights. Why the second SUV even needed brights was beyond me. I thought for a second that they would pull over and ask if I needed any help, but they didn't. They just continued driving.

            I continued glaring at them from my spot in my car until they turned right, heading towards the big city.

 

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            "Shouldn't we help them?" Reid asked, shifting in his seat, trying to get comfortable for the long drive back to the airport.

            "They're probably homeless. Did you see how many clothes and blankets they had in their car?" Rossi answered.

            "But-"

            "No buts, Reid. Quantico wants us back soon, and if we don't hurry, we'll miss our flight back home." Rossi told Reid.

            "But-"

            "If Hotch stops to help, we'll stop to help. How does that sound?" Rossi suggested.

            Reid sighed but nodded.

            The SUV in front of them had Aaron and Morgan. They drove past the car on the side of the road without stopping and continued on their way.

            "Sorry, kid, but we really are in a hurry."

            Reid pouted in his seat but stayed quiet throughout the rest of the drive.

 

 

 

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**Author's Note:**

> Soooo close yet soooo far! Oh my goodness, this was hard to write. I really want the BAU to find the Listener and yet I really want the Listener to outwit the BAU. It was really hard to write this one with such conflicting interests! And as to the title of this one, it's in relation to when does she have the time to do all this. Sorry if that's not really clear. Anyway, I hope ya'll enjoyed this one! Til next time!


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